So you want to research a film or filmmaker and you're not sure where to get started.
updated (4/06)

If you are new to the American University Library’s website and have not used ALADIN much, this is a guide to the ALADIN databases that should be considered when getting started with film studies research. By describing the results of searching a sample topic I hope to illuminate the breadth and depth of the databases I’ve selected.

The film movement called Dogme 95 is the example I chose partly because its name is distinctive and wouldn’t yield too many false drops and secondly it is not widely known among contemporary film-goers. I felt my results would be substantial enough to indicate the strengths of some of our databases and to encourage individuals researching lesser known films and filmmakers.

Dogme 95 was a movement started by four Danish filmmakers, Lars von Trier, Thomas Vinterberg, Kristian Levring, and Soren Kragh-Jacobsen, in reaction to the increasing use of special effects and artificiality in feature filmmaking. They issued a ten-point manifesto, referred to as the “Rules of Chastity”, that dictated rules a film would have to follow to be recognized as a Dogme film. Examples of some of the rules included that filming must be done on location, lighting must be natural, camerawork must be handheld, and the director must not be credited.

In my sample searches I used the term “Dogme 95” and the alternate spelling “Dogma 95”. Since the movement is sometimes referred to as simply “Dogme” or “Dogma”, I also used that as a search term in combination with Trier, since Lars von Trier is the best-known name associated with the movement.

- Chris Lewis, Media Librarian

NOTE: Remote access to these databases, such as from your home or office, is restricted to American University students, faculty, and staff. For a full list of our ALADIN databases (with descriptive notes), go to the Alphabetical List under Electronic Resources and Collections at www.aladin.wrlc.org. Also note that only a few of these databases contain full-text. For assistance in locating articles found in the citation-only databases, please contact the AU Library Reference Desk (202/885-3238).

Academic Search Premier – 32 hits, 11 full-text
This is a major cross-disciplinary database with a large portion of full-text content. A great resource database that would allow you in most cases the option to view the results as an HTML, text or PDF file.  Articles ranged from critical analysis to film reviews. Editors choice.

America: History and Life – 0 hit
Dogme 95 is not viewed as an American movement, despite a few American films being recognized as Dogme films, this would not be a likely source for our sample search though it would be more useful for searches on articles about Hollywood films.

Art Abstracts – 18 hits, 1 Full-text
The articles cited were primarily about individual films that have been granted Dogme status, such as Italian for Beginners, The King is Alive, and Julien Donkey-Boy. Most are in English but three are citations from the French journal Cahiers du Cinema.  Editors choice.

Article First via First Search – 9 hits
Articles in English, Spanish, and Swedish. Reviews and analysis.

Arts and Humanities Citation Index (1995-2005) – 10 hits
Articles cited range from descriptions to criticisms and include a few book reviews and one bibliography about the movement.

Book Review Digest – 2 hits
One book review and one film review.  

Books In Print – 12 hits
Three different titles cited.

Cinefiles – 0 hits
A free citation-only database of materials owned by the Pacific Film Archive. This database is better used to locate reviews and program notes of Hollywood films from various publications.

Cinovid – 0 hits
This free online index contains no citations of Dogme 95 or Lars von Trier but it is an outstanding source for researching lesser-known experimental or avant-garde filmmakers.

Contemporary Authors – 1 hit for Lars von Trier
A biographical sketch including career highlights, awards, personal information, writings, works-in-progress, and readings about the author.

Dissertation Abstracts – 8 hits
Abstracts (and some full-text) of dissertations. 3 hits for “Dogme 95” and 5 unique hits for “von Trier”. Topics over a wide range: cinema, gender and cultural modernity (using von Trier’s Breaking the Waves as a “signifying practice”); environmental issues and narrative in Dogme 95 aesthetic; and an examination of the assumptions about filmmaking and perception behind the Dogme 95 manifesto in relation to the phenomenology of space.

Dogme 95 official website
Being this is a reference guide to the Dogme 95 movement, here is the link to the official website.

Encyclopedia Britannica Online – 7 hits
References to Dogme 95 in the context of Nordic cinema and von Trier’s films in the Encyclopedia’s Britannica Book of the Year.

FIAF International FilmArchive Database  - 40 hits
Results from a broad international collection of film periodicals. “Dogme 95” brings only 9 results, while “Dogma 95” returns 40. The database contains a variety of scholarly, industry and aficionado journals on film.

Film Literature Index Online, 1975-2001 – 178 hits
This free online index is excellent when searching for the articles on the movement or each of the individual filmmakers.  Articles are not available for viewing but contain full citations for each.  Note the time range for the index, there are no articles after 2001 listed. Editors choice.

Google Scholar – 1,200 hits
This feature of the ubiquitous search engine claims to be the definitive way to search for scholarly articles on the web. Results vary wildly from scholarly articles to cryptic web pages. Results are ranked by the number of times the works are cited in other scholarly publications. When Google Scholar is used from an AU affiliated computer, search results will include a search in ALADIN link to find consortium owned books or will include a Full text at AU link if an article is available in an AU database. Editors choice.

Historical Abstracts – 0 hit
There were no matches of any variation of Dogme 95 or Trier at this database for which specializes in historical abstracts.  Many titles are available both in print and e-book versions.

International Dictionary of Films and Filmakers  -  3 hits
No hits for “dogme” or “dogma”, but 3 for “Lars von Trier” – one entry for Breaking the Waves, one for The Idiots, and one for von Trier himself. Each entry includes a bibliography of journal articles about the topic.

International Index to the Performing Arts – 87 hits
This partially-full-text article index allows you a choice of viewing options for articles matching your search.  Given the quality and quantity of hits, this database should not be overlooked when conducting film studies research. Editors choice.

Internet Movie Database – 4 hits
This free database contains biographical information and a thorough filmography of all of the founding members of the Dogme 95 movement (Lars von Trier, Thomas Vinterberg, Kristian Levring, and Soren Kragh-Jacobsen).

JSTOR – 15 hits
JSTOR, a database of full-text scholarly journal articles, is not highly recommended as it has no journals that cover film studies.  Most of the hits were not very useful or relevant when searching for Dogme/Dogma 95, but a few interesting articles turned up when searching by the member’s names.

The Left Index – 2 hits
A couple worthwhile citations linked to full-text sources.

Lexis Nexis Academic – 125 hits in quick news search – last two years
The number is capped at 125 hits but if you mix up the search slightly, you can expand the possible results.  While Lexis Nexis Academic is not the place to search for scholarly journal articles, particularly in the humanities, it does contain the full-text of many newspapers and popular magazines. It’s a good place to locate background information on a filmmaker or film but not recommended if seeking lengthy critical perspectives. Editors choice

Movie Review Query Engine – Many hits
This free database with links to full-text movie reviews must be searched by individual title.

New York Times via Proquest Historical Newspapers – 76 hits
Covering the newspaper from 1851 – 2002 this resource offered a number of results but were primarily limited to reviews for films and descriptions of festivals in which this genre of films appeared.  There were a few more in-depth articles which proved to be more analytical than film reviews, for instance, one article examined the direction of movies and the digital versus film battle; a fight that the Dogma movement has influenced. 

Papers First via First Search – 0 hits
This is a database with partial full-text coverage. It’s not strong in film studies subjects.

Periodicals Index Online – 8 hits
This article index focuses on thirty-seven subject headings dealing with humanities.  As there is no heading on film, it is understandable the low number of results.  While Dogme/Dogma 95 do not lead to any hits, searches for Lars von Trier came up with some articles, though none of the other members had anything on them.

Periodical Index – 0 hits
This index covers 1983-1993 thus yielded nothing on Dogme 95.

Project MUSE – 6 hits – searching all fields (including text)
Despite having only a few articles, this index is easy to use and rates the results so that articles containing only passing references can be quickly evaluated.

Proquest General – 105 hits
The Dogme 95 movement had a good number of articles but the majority of the hundred and five results came by individual name searches; the articles are from popular magazines such as Time, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Premiere, People, and Newsweek. Film journals cited included American Film, Journal of Film and Video, Film Quarterly, Literature/Film Quarterly, and Film History. The articles range from background information and reviews of new video/DVD releases to critical analysis. There is some overlap between this database and several of the others but an advantage of using this database is that many of the citations are linked to full-text (more than half in this case).  One of the things that separate this resource from others is that it provides Suggested Topics with the results of your search.  These suggested topics can be very helpful. Editors choice.

Times Digital Archive – 0 hits
This full-text database, while impressive, covers newspapers from 1785-1985 and therefore is not useful for this particular search.

VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever – 4 hits
An online e-book of the print movie guide. VideoHound provides very brief information about films such as cast, crew and plot summary. The entry for “The King is Alive” does not mention Dogme or Dogma.

Worldcat via First Search – 25 hits
Eighteen book citations (including some in French, Spanish, German, and Italian), and seven film/video citations from this index. Note: Worldcat is a union catalog of holdings from libraries around the world and since a given title may have been released in different editions or different formats, it’s not unusual to find multiple (and sometimes many) records for the same title.

Don't forget print
The above list is composed only of electronic resources, but thorough film studies research still requires extensive use of print resources as well. For a guide to some of the standard film studies reference books available at the AU Library go to our Film Studies - Library Research Primer.

Media Services Phone Numbers:

Media Services Desk 202/885-3250
Media Librarian 202/885-3257

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